Accepting Forgiveness With Alcoholism

Drinking took me to places that a woman like me — white, middle-class, college-educated — never thought she’d be. Renter’s court. Criminal court. You know, THOSE kinds of places. At the time I thought that the world was against me. And so, to combat the world, I drank more. It’s what alcoholics do.

I almost lost everything. EVERYTHING. I am still, over four years later, putting many of the pieces of my shattered life back together. A few of them I just swept up and tossed in the trash, like the “friends” I used to drink with and the bars I used to frequent. Those pieces, the ones that don’t matter, the ones that never should have mattered, were easily discarded.

The relationships that do matter, that should have mattered more, those fractures are not so easily fixed. Cobbling them back together may take a lifetime. Regaining the trust that the people closest to me lost while I was lost in whatever bottle I could get my hands on, that’s the trickier part of recovery.

I had no idea that the actual act of giving up alcohol would be the easier part of the healing process. That the hard part would be the aftermath is not something they focus on in rehab. In rehab they tell you to put yourself first. I found this advice to be counterproductive. Because, really, that’s what addicts do, have always done — put themselves first. In order to get healthy, I needed to start putting other people first.

I needed, first and foremost, to stop feeling resentful. Instead, I needed to be grateful — to actually FEEL grateful. Grateful to the people who stood by me. Grateful for having done no irreparable physical harm to anyone other than myself. Grateful for being given the second chance that many addicts never are. Grateful just to be.

There is still not a day that goes by that I am not smacked in the face with the realization that I can NEVER have another drink. Not one single day. I don’t know if this ever ends. I don’t know that it should. I know that I must acknowledge this feeling and then I must move on from it before it incapacitates me. It’s really all I can do. There’s no magic to it. It’s just what my life is.

That’s the bad. Forgiveness is the good. Whether through words or deeds, I have managed to receive forgiveness from the people who my drinking affected most adversely. My husband. My child. They are truly special people.

And friends. The good ones. The kind ones. The generous ones. The funny ones. They persevered. They saw me through. They, too, have forgiven me.

My life is far better and infinitely richer because I am able, every day, to accept their gifts of forgiveness. And, because they have, every last one of them, given this gift so freely, I do my part by making every attempt to be a humble and grateful recipient.

8 Responses

It’s too bad they don’t focus a bit more on how best to mend relationships in rehab but I suppose that has to be secondary to stopping drinking. It’s so good that you want to try – some recovering alcoholics don’t. Most people are very forgiving and will want you to succeed. Maybe you need to forgive yourself first?

Forgiving oneself is, at least in my experience, the most difficult part of the recovery process — but I think it begins with the ability to accept the forgiveness of others — and to be grateful to them for their ability to do so. I suppose if I were surrounded by people who constantly reminded me of my mistakes, who wanted to rub my face in my failures, recovery would have been, if not impossible, infinitely harder.

Jackie, I applaud you and admire your courage to share your very personal story of achievements and challenges. I am so glad you joined my Bloggers Unite community on Google+ to let me know about this story.

A powerful post! I can only imagine what you have gone through as I am one of those fortunate people never drawn to alcohol or other addictive behaviors. I wish you continued strength with your journey! And no more courts!